1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus which can continuously carry out the operations of packaging, weighing and labeling merchandise.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An apparatus consisting of a combination of a packaging machine, a weighing machine and a labeling machine which can continuously carry out the operations of packaging merchandise placed in trays, weighing the packaged merchandise and sticking thereon labels on which prices corresponding to the weights determined by the weighing operation are printed, is used in, for example, a packing center for goods distributed to supermarkets.
However conventional apparatus of this kind has the following problems.
Namely, an article placed in a tray is supplied with the article extending laterally with respect to the inlet of the packaging machine, i. e. with the longer sides of the tray extending at right angles to the direction in which the article is being supplied.
Accordingly, the article is still in a lateral posture when it leaves the packaging machine. The reasons why the article is supplied into and discharged from the packaging machine in a lateral posture with respect to the direction of advancement thereof reside in the fact that the packaging machine is so constructed that it can package and seal the merchandise passing therethrough in a lateral posture more efficiently.
If articles are in this lateral posture, their orientation is often disordered while they are transferred from the packaging machine to the labeling machine via the weighing machine.
Consequently, the labels are inevitably stuck on different portions of different articles by the labeling machine, or the wrong labels are stuck on. Therefore, it is necessary that the apparatus of this kind is constructed that an article in a lateral posture can be rotated into a longitudinal posture in a portion of the apparatus which is between the packaging machine and the weighing machine, so that each article is sent to the labeling machine at a predetermined positional relationship with respect to adjacent articles.
However, since the size of trays used in this apparatus is not constant, it is very difficult to send articles to the labeling machine while maintaining the posture thereof and positional relationship therebetween at an optimum at all times. Thus, in a conventional apparatus of this kind, the operator must often correct the posture and position of articles being sent to the labeling machine.